Ride on a Shooting Star
by Canti of the black flame
Summary: It's been a year since Haruko left, and Naota is graduating the seventh grade. Naota is growing a mysterious new horn, and on the last day of school Amarao tells him Atomsk is comming back, and that somebody else might come after him...please reveiw!
1. Return of an old friend

Ride on a Shooting Star

Chapter One: Return of an old friend

((This is my first fic, so bear with me if it sucks...))

Disclaimer: I don't own FLCL or anything like that...So please don't sue...

"Owch."

"Nao, it's time for dinner!"

"Okay, just a sec!"

_This is so weird...Why do I have another horn coming out of my head? She left a year ago, and I haven't been hit in the head with a guitar since...What's going on? _"Owch! I can't make it go away...I'll just wear my beanie to cover it up like I did before," Naota muttered to himself. He pulled his grey beanie over his head, walked out of his bedroom, and down the stairs into the dining room.

"Hey, Chief!"

"What!" Naota's eyes widened.

At the end of the table, with a small camera beside her sat Mamimi with a happy-go-lucky expression on her face.

"Naota, Mamimi's come back to Mabase." Kamon explained, "I thought it would be a nice surprise for you so I didn't tell you."

"Oh. Okay," replied Naota as he sat down, he was still slightly suprised.

"So how have you been Chief?" Mamimi asked as she took a quick picture of Naota with her camera.

"Okay, I guess," answered Naota.

"Hey, where's Canti?" Mamimi asked suddenly as she looked around her.

"Oh, he's outside chopping wood," replied Kamon, "Canti, come back in! We have a guest!" Seconds later the robot with a T.V. for a head opened the back door and walked into the dining room; he was still wearing that white apron, except there were now countless stains covering it.

Mamimi beamed, "Hi Canti! Remember me?" Canti waved to Mamimi and looked back at Kamon.

"Come, Canti. I'll help you prepare dinner," Kamon instructed, and with that, he and Canti went into the kitchen to leave Naota and Mamimi alone to talk. Naota tilted his head down in thought.

"...Why'd you come back Mamimi?"

"Well, I was getting along okay by selling my photographs to magazines; that one I took of you with Haruko's guitar was my favorite one," Naota shrugged at the sound of _her_ name, "But lately I haven't gotten any business, so I decided to come back and see you," she finished.

"You came back just for me? Why?" Naota questioned as he lifted his head back up. There was a long silence before Mamimi rose from where she sat and positioned herself right behind Naota where she sat back down and gave him a big hug from behind.

"I missed you Chief," she whispered in his ear.

Just then Kamon came back into the room with Canti right behind him holding a large bowl of curry. Naota immediately shifted away from Mamimi; his dad usually acted weird when things like this happened.

"I see, Mamimi has just come back and you two are already fooly coolying with each other..." Kamon teased, his glasses glinting from the ceiling lights.

"Wha-! No we weren't! We were just talking; that's right! Right Mamimi?" Naota protested frantically. Mamimi was silent.

"Calm down, Naota. I knew there was always something between you and Mamimi," interjected Kamon, "First Haruko and now Mamimi..."

"Nuh-uh! Me and Haruko never foolied or coolied and me and Mamimi aren't now!"

This frantic incident was later followed by a silent, awkward dinner, during which it was decided that Mamimi could stay in Naota's room, on the top bunk. Some time later, Naota could be found sitting on the edge of his bed playing a little tune on the bass guitar Haruko left him and Mamimi was sitting upon the floor playing with Naota's cat.

"So..." Mamimi began, "Have you heard from Tasuku lately?"

"Yeah, he told me on the phone he broke his arm playing baseball. And since he can't play with a broken arm, he's coming back to Mabase to visit while he recovers," replied Naota. Mamimi paid great attention to Naota while he talked. She had always had a crush on Tasuku, ever since he saved her from a fire when she was little. At one point she even called herself his girlfriend, but because she was always hanging out with Naota, everyone thought she was with him instead. Naota's friends, Gaku and Masashi always referred to Mamimi as Naota's wife, so that too helped support the rumor that Mamimi and Naota where together; that was, until she left Mabase to be a photographer.

"I forgot to ask earlier...what's with that hat? You aren't hiding anything, are you?" Mamimi inquired as she pointed at Naota's beanie. Naota winced a bit, then quickly turned away.

"No... I... just like to wear my beanie, that's all." Naota was beginning to blush.

"Come on, let me see!" Mamimi cried as she attempted to pry the beanie from Naota's head.

"Hey, stop!"

The two wrestled around for a moment until Mamimi finally got the beanie off. At first there was nothing abnormal about Naota's head, but after a moment, a sharp-looking, skin-colored horn emerged from Naota's forehead, "Owch! That hurts!" Naota winced as he tried to cover it with his hand.

"Wow, you're like a unicorn, but you're not a horse. It's just like when Haru-san was here." Naota's face turned red again.

"I know...But the weird thing is, I haven't seen her since she left a year ago." Naota's mind wandered back to the day he fought Haruko with the Pirate King, Atomsk's powers, and how Atomsk himself came out of his head and nearly devastated the city. Naota looked out the window to look at the destroyed Medical Machanica plant; it looked like a giant clothing iron. In fact, that iron was what every robot who came out of his head wanted. They all looked like some kind of hand and each and every time they attempted to grab the iron to _smooth out the wrinkles_ as captain Amarao put it.

"It's late, and I have 7th grade graduation tomorrow, so let's go to bed." Naota muttered, still looking out the window. Mamimi climbed the ladder to the top bunk and crawled into bed, as Naota did the same. "Goodnight, Mamimi."

"Goodnight...Horn Boy." Mamimi giggled

"Hey!"


	2. The man with the big eyebrows

Ride on a Shooting Star:

Chapter 2: The man with the big eyebrows

When morning came, and it was time to get ready for his last day of school, Naota silently got out of bed and got dressed, being careful not to wake Mamimi. He put on his blue hoodie and some slightly baggy jeans, and he kept the beanie on to cover up his horn. He was excited about his final day of school so he grabbed his back-pack and his skateboard from the corner of the room and left the house to meet up with his friends. After Haruko left, Naota took up skateboarding to keep himself busy, to keep himself from thinking about her. He had become quite talented at it too.

Canti was doing some yard work out front when Naota skated by and told him not to wake Mamimi. When he got to the bridge where his friends were waiting, he grinded the guard rail and landed, tilting his board into a nose manual and finally stopped in front of his friends. "Show off..." Masashi muttered. He too had taken up skateboarding with Naota, but he was horrible and had nearly broke his arm which caused him to quit.

"You wanna know who I saw yesterday?" teased Gaku, "I saw Naota's ex-wife, the one who quit high school."

"I know, Mamimi's staying at my house. She's asleep in my room right now," Naota replied, though, as soon as he did, he knew he shouldn't have.

"What?" Gaku, Masashi, and Ninamori said in unison.

"Hey, I didn't mean it like tha-" Naota tried to explain but he was cut off by the deep voice of someone who was coming up from behind him, "Naota, we need to talk."

Naota looked behind him. A man with dark red hair, huge rectangular eyebrows, and sported a business suit sat upon a moped in the middle of the road. It was Amarao.

"You guys go on ahead, I'll catch up with you later." said Naota to his friends.

"Okay, later Naota. And by the way, that hat's really bizarre," Ninamori commented as she turned and left with the others. Naota could hear Gaku rambling on about something, but the only words he could distingquish was "Smooch, smooch!"

"What do you want?" Naota asked in a cold tone; he and Amarao weren't always on the best of terms. After the M.M. incident, as Amarao called it, he would come by and check on Naota every now and then, making sure nothing else had come out of his head to start trouble.

"We have a problem, Naota," replied Amarao.

"A problem? What problem?" Naota asked , "Our satellites have taken pictures of something strongly resembling the way Atomsk looked when he left Earth, and it's heading toward the planet as we speak. Our guess is he's heading back to Mabase for something." Amarao's eyebrows twiched at the thought of the pirate king coming back; the last time Atomsk was there he sucked in Amarao's eyebrows into his head along with parts of the city.

"What? Why would he come back? What does he want?" Naota was becoming frantic again. He had once tasted the power of the Pirate King, and, although it was a small taste, it was powerful nonetheless.

"Tell me, do you still have _her_ guitar? The one she would hit you with to make the Medical Machanica robots come out of your head." asked Amarao, anyone could tell he was beating around the bush.

"Yeah, so what?

"He wants it. Along with that robot you call Canti."

"Why?"

"Think, Naota. Every time _she_ hit you with that guitar, things would come out of your head. It's what activates your N.O. powers, and it can just as easily take them away. And, as for the robot, Atomsk was traped inside it until you some how absorbed his power and set him free. The two combined could easily imprison him like before, and he isn't happy about it." Amarao's eyebrows were twitching even more now, which only happend when he was mad. "This is why we're sending a nucular warhead toward it, which was specifically made to intercept and destroy him," he finished.

Naota was beginning to lose it as well, "Wha-? Your just gonna blow him up? What's wrong with you? If it's that big a deal I'll just give him the guitar!"

"I won't let him set one foot on this planet! If the Pirate King...If Atomsk comes back...Then Raharu...Raharu will come back too!" Once Amarao had said that, Naota's eyes widened as far as they would. "She'll come back to find him. And she'll come for you too, for the horn growing on your head," Amarao completed as he turned himself and his vehicle away.

"How did you know about-" Naota was cut off once again by Amarao.

"Don't be fooled again, Naota. She's only going to use you to get what she wants; just like she did before," Amarao warned.

"You're wrong; she wasn't just using me," Naota protested.

"Just think about it, will you?" finished Amarao, as he drove away.

When Naota finally made it to school, he was dreadfully late. Unfortunately for him, Miya-Jun, their teacher, hated tardiness, "And where were you, Mr. Nandaba?" Naota didn't answer, he just took his seat next to Ninamori with a blank look on his face, "Naota, I'm talking to you. Where have you been? You're fifteen minutes late for school!" Miya-Jun had to slam her hand on the desk to grab his attention.

"Oh, sorry Miya-jun. There was an emergency I had to take care of," Naota replied, his face still blank.

"Hmm...Well, luckily for you, this is the last day of school." Miya-Jun had also been their teacher from gradeschool, but lucky for her she got moved up to seventh grade teaching because her class had exelent marks.

"Naota? Are you okay?" Masashi asked, waving his hand in front of Naota's face to gain his attention, but to no avail.

"You look like somebody died," Ninamori added.

"No," Naota said, somewhat quietly, "Nobody's dead."

"Then what's wrong with you?" asked Gaku. Naota was starting to get annoyed, he wanted to be alone to think.

"Nothings wrong; just drop it." _Will she really come back?_

**Meanwhile in a secret facility on the outskirts of Mabase:**

Amarao and his assistant were watching the new satellite images of Atomsk, "Do you think the missile will be powerful enough to take him out commander?"

"I sure as hell hope so, Kitsurubami," replied Amarao as he turned and walked toward the computer controlling the missile.

"How can you be sure it'll even hit? He could easily dodge it," Kitsurubami stated, there was a slight uneasiness in her voice.

"No, he won't. I programed the missile with a certain amount of artificial intelligence, and I've fed it all the footage we have of Atomsk. It also has a mechanical eye on it's nose, that way it will be able to see him. It won't miss." Amarao typed in a code sequence to enable the launch.

"Missile launch in five, four, three, two, one..."

**Back at the Nandaba residence:**

Naota was in his room resting, he was still contemplating the events that happened earlier that day.

_Fine, let Amarao blow him up... _

Suddenly, the doorbell rang. Naota waited for a moment to hear if anyone answered it. He then realized his father was working in the bakery, therefore, Naota went to answer the door himself. The bell rang again,. "I'm coming; hold on." Naota's eyes were a little groggy, but he immediately woke up after he opened the door.

"Hi, Takkun."


	3. The girl, the guitar, and the vespa

Ride on a Shooting Star:

Chapter 3: The Girl, the Guitar, and the Vespa

Thanks for your positive reviews, people. Sorry I took so long with this chapter, I've been having some technical dificulties, and now for your reading pleasure...

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There in Naota's doorway stood Haruko. She looked exactly the way she did when she left Mabase one year ago. Her hair, her clothing, even the bracelet on her left wrist was the same. She still had the double neck guitar that Naota made when he had Atomsk's powers, it was strapped to her back.

"Did you miss me Takkun?"

"..." Naota was silent.

"Oooh, awkward moment..." Haruko said, her hands were behind her head now.

"...Why did you come back?" Naota kept his head down, so you couldn't see his eyes.

"I came back to see you, Takkun." she replied

"That's a lie...I know about Atomsk, and I know what he wants."

Haruko let out a sight, "Listen Takkun. I did come back for Atomsk, but the fact that your hear gave me even more reason to come back. If I only wanted Atomsk, I wouldn't be here at your house."

Naota lifted his face back up, and gave Haruko a big hug, "Promise me you'll stay this time..." he said.

"If I can get Atomsk this time, maybe I can."

Just then, Kamon walked by with a basket full of laundry, "Oh look, Haruko-san's back. But wait, Mamimi's staying here too...Naota, you'd better keep yourself in line unless you want another air-soft war." Kamon pulled out his nazi uniform. "No, no, no. I'll be good..." Naota flailed his arms around.

"No Takkun, I like bad-boys." Haruko teased as she pounce on him like she used to always do.

"Hey, knock it off." Naota said as he squirmed around. Mamimi entered the room just then, "Hey, Haru-san's back!"

"Mamimi...help..." Haruko was choking him now. But Mamimi just jumped on Naota too. "Dog-pile!" yelled Haruko.

After everybody settled down, it was time for dinner. Everybody sat down to a nice dinner, in celebration of Haruko's return, Canti and Kamon made a feast. "So, Haruko-san. Are you planning on staying here?" asked Kamon.

"I'll stay with Takkun, here." Haruko replied, that devilish grin across her face.

"But Mamimi is already staying in Takkun's- er...Naota's room." Kamon said, he was starting to get confused about Naota's nick-name.

"It's ok, I can sleep on the floor or something." said Naota.

"Oh, so you want both Mamimi and Haruko in your room with you is that it?" Kamon asked, "Aren't we being a wee bit selfish?"

"Dad, what's wrong with you? Last time she was here, Haruko made a robot copy of you that killed you, and you still like her?" Naota answered.

"Yes, I suppose your right...But you can't blame a guy for trying..." replied Kamon, in a slightly sheepish tone.

"By the way...Sorry about that robot..." Haruko said

After dinner, Naota, Mamimi, and Haruko all went up to Naota's room where they diceded that Mamimi could stay on the top bunk, Haruko got Naota's bed, and Naota would just sleep in a sleeping-bag on the floor. "That's so nice of you to give me your bed, Takkun. But you know, I can always share it." teased Haruko. "Nah, that beds too small for the both of us. Plus, you always kick and roll in your sleep, you would probably knock me off anyways." Naota teased back.

"By the way, I've been wanting to ask you...Your name isn't Haruko Haruhara, is it?" Naota asked.

"I suppose the "Home town fan" clued you in, huh?" Haruko replied with a question of her own.

"Who's the "Home town fan?" Asked Mamimi

"The guy with the big eyebrows that comes into the bakery every few weeks." answered Naota

"Oh, he was here yesterday looking for you." Mamimi stated

"Anyways, the "Home town fan", er, Amarao called you Raharu...That's your real name, isn't it?" said Naota

"That's right, my real name is Raharu Haruha. Haruko is the name I use when I go on undercover missions. But if you want, you can still call me Haruko." she answered

"Missions? Are you some kind of secret agent?" asked Mamimi

"I'm an officer of the Galaxy Space Police, you can kind of think of it as the FBI of the galaxy" explained Haruko

"Kind of hard to imagin you as a police officer." Naota teased.

"Anyways, it's ok for me to tell you this now because my cover had already been blown. But enough of this serious stuff, it's getting boring." Haruko said.

The next morning, Mamimi dicided she would go see her parents, "See you later, Cheif!" she yelled when Canti flew off with Mamimi on his back.

Kamon asked Haruko if she could deliver some of his mini-zines to a shop on the other side of town, "Sure," she replied, "Hey Takkun, you wanna come?"

"Why not, somebody's gotta keep you in line anyways." Naota teased.

"You've really grown up, Takkun." Haruko stated as they went down the rode on her vespa.

"Yeah, I guess...There's something I wanted to asked you, why does Amarao hate you so much?" Naota asked.

"He's jealous." she replied

"Jealous? Of what?"

"He's jealous of you, Takkun."

"Why me?"

"He's jealous of the fact that your N.O. is stronger than his ever was." Haruko answered

"Really?" _I bet that's part of the reason, but theres more to it then she's telling me. If it was only that, he wouldn't be mad at her, he would be mad at me..._

When the two made it to the shop, Haruko went in to deliver the zines while Naota waited out by the vespa.

"I thought I told you not to be fooled..."

"Huh?" replied Naota. He looked around him, and saw a man leaning against the building wall while reading a newspaper that covered his face. The only part of his face Naota could see were the tops of two big, rectangular eyebrows, "What do you want.?" Naota was on to him. "I want you to stay away from her," Amarao turned the page of his newspaper, "She's using you, you know. She wants one thing, and it's not you." Amarao finished.

"Your wrong, she told me the truth. She told me about who she really was, and she hasn't even mentioned the horn on my head." Naota protested.

"It's an act, don't you understand?" Amarao turned another page, "Or are you still the same stubborn kid you wer-" Naota cut him off, "Why do you hate her so much?" Naota asked. Amarao moved the newspaper down just enough so you could see the orange lenses of his sunglasses, "That," he raised an eyebrow, "is none of your business."

Suddenly Haruko appeared out of the store, "Sorry that took so long, Takkun. The guy in there's a real moran." Haruko stopped where she was when she heared a clicking sound, "Huh?"

Out from behind the newspaper, Amaroa pulled out a hand gun, and positioned it next to Haruko's head. "I've finally got you Raharu."

Unphased, a cocky grin made it's way across Haruko's lips, "A gun? Couldn't you be more creative? Why don't you pull a guitar out of your head? Oh that's right...You never could." she said slyly.

"You can save the sarcastic comments Raharu, I'm sure you'll have plenty of time to use them later. I'm taking you away from this boy, you've done enough damage to him already." Amarao replied.

"Leave her alone..." Natoa said quietly. "No, Naota. It's time you learned who she really is." Amarao replied.

"I already know who she is!" Naota yelled.

"She's only using you! Why can't you understand!" Amarao yelled back

"She is not! Now let her go!" Naota yelled at the top of his lungs. As soon as he finished yelling, Naota felt a pulsating feeling from his head, "Huh?" He felt another pulse, and then his eyes became dark and glazed. The next pulse created a flash of red light, and dicintigrated the beanie on his head. Naota's horn began to grow longer, and instinctivly, Naota grabed it. As he pulled, his body started to glow a bright red color, and his hair started floating as if he were in water. He continued to pull on his horn until it became a ray of red light when it came out, wich formed into a dark red long-neck 6-string guitar with an X-like body.

Naota raised the guitar over his head, wich began emiting red lightning from it's body. The lightning struck in every-wich way, tearing up the ground, leaving gashes into nearby buildings, breaking windows, and leveling cars. One streak of the lightning tore at the sidewalk at Amarao's feet, making him fall over.

Upon seeing this act of hostility, Amarao quickly put his gun down and pulled out a small walkie-talkie from his coat pocket, "Kitsurubami, Kitsurubami! Get to my location imediatly! We have a serious situation over here!"

"What? Captain Amarao, what's going on?" Kitsurubami replied over the walkie-talkie

Back at the Nandaba residence:

Canti, who was working in the bakery at the time, turned his head to look out the window. His screen could see a flare of red light over the tops of some buildings. He imediatly left the building and flew off to investigate.

Back infront of the store:

The ground continued to rip apart from the red lightning. Naota tried to let go of the guitar, but his hands were stuck, he couldn't put it down.

_What's going on! Why can't I stop it!_

The whole time, Haruko watched in awe. Many times the red lightning had struck in her direction, but everytime it came near it veered off to the side, destroying a car, or a window.

Amarao also watched in awe of Naota's powers. He was so concentrated on Naota, he didn't even notice when his eyebrows fell off, "That...That power...It's Atomsk's...But how? Atomsk is still in space!" Amarao kept contemplating this untill a light blue volkswagon stopped infront of him. The driver was Kitsurubami, who then grabbed Amarao by the arm and yanked him inside. "Captain, are you alright!" she yelled.

"Look!" was all Amarao had to say as he pointed at Naota.

The lighting stopped comming out of the guitar, and it seemed the worst was over. Naota, still glowing red, buckled down on his knees, yet he was still holding up the guitar. "Takkun!" Haruko yelled as she moved towards Naota, "No! Stay back!" was his reply. And he was right to say so. Less than a second after he warned Haruko, a bright beam of red light shot out of the guitar. It flew up into the sky, and soon dissapeared as it left the atmosphere.

Finally, it was over. Naota stopped glowing, as did the guitar. Canti, seeing the beam of light, was able to pinpoint where it came from, and started to land behind Naota. Kitsurubami saw this as a good time to escape, so she floored it. Unfortunatly for her and Amarao, Canti had laded infront of the car. Canti held his right arm out, stopping the vehicle in it's tracks, and held out the other to catch Naota as he fell back from exhaustion.

Everything was silent...For a few seconds.

Streakes of light danced around the sky like an aroura. That soon dissapeared, as a red shockwave swept across the sky, clearing it of the light and nearby clouds. Immedialy after the shockwave came, a giant explosion covered the sky. It looked as if the sky itself were on fire as orange and red flames covered the area over the city. Another red shockwave blew the fire away, and seemed to signal the beginning of a meteor shower that rained down near the city.

Amarao knew what had happened, "Kitsurubami, we need to get back to H.Q. now!" and with that, the volkswagon backed up, drove around Canti, and sped off over the horizon.

"Canti, take Takkun home. I'm going to go investigate." Haruko instructed as she mounted her vespa and drove off. Canti did what he was told, and flew a passed out Naota and his new guitar home.

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...There's like...what? three of you who are reading faithfully...Well, anyways, I hope you and everyone else liked this chapter. I thought it was cool. I'll start working on the fourth when I get some more reviews, so please review!


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